1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, in general, to finisher accessories for printers and duplicators and, more specifically, to apparatus for stapling together sets of sheets from hard copy producing apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Finishers are used in conjunction with copiers, printers, duplicators, and similar hard copy apparatus which produce hard copy outputs, such as sheets of paper, for the purpose of performing an extra function or operation on the sheets. One such operation is securing the sheets together in a known arrangement, such as in booklet form with binding at the center, or bound together at the edges of the sheets. With either binding system, the binding method can be by staples, stitching through the paper, or other suitable means.
Traditional finishers are usually constructed to operate with a particular type of hard copy producing apparatus, such as printers. Normally, these prior art finishers are capable of handling only limited sizes of paper and binding the sheets together at only one general position. The complexity of these finishers is such that it is not feasible to modify the apparatus to handle different paper sizes and different binding locations. The size of the finishing units is an important factor in limiting the amount of extra equipment which can be included in the finisher to make it more versatile. Many printers and other hard copy output apparatus produce sheets of different lengths and with different binding requirements. Traditional finishers cannot be used efficiently with printers having such capabilities and even interchanging finishers with the same printer is time consuming and not an ideal solution to the problem of finishing papers from versatile printers.
Several U.S. patents have disclosed finishing apparatus which is used to perform operations on sheets of paper. These patents are of some relevance here because of their general similarities. However, none of these patents disclose or suggest finisher apparatus constructed the same as the finisher disclosed herein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,640, issued on May 6, 1986, discloses a finishing system which staples sheets of the same size together. U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,473, issued on Feb. 8, 1983, discloses apparatus for stitching together sheets of paper of varying sizes. Differences in size are accommodated by moving the stitching machines or stations within the apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,132, issued on Aug. 6, 1985, discloses apparatus for stitching together sheets of paper after the sheets are folded, with the structure of the apparatus being very unlike the structure of the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,963, issued on Jan. 10, 1984, discloses a finisher for stapling together sheets from a copier or duplicator. The sheets are only stapled along an edge of the sheets. U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,156, issued on Dec. 2, 1986 to the same assignee as the present invention, discloses finishing apparatus for stapling together sheets of paper with additional sheets to make booklet covers. None of these patents disclose or teach apparatus similar to the present invention.
Since the same printer is now often capable of providing various size sheets at the command of the operator, such as either 81/2.times.11" or 11.times.17", a versatile finisher accessory which can readily accommodate various sizes is advantageous. Even when operated with different printers having different paper size outputs, the convenience of having one finisher capable of handling the outputs of various printers in a compact package is important. Therefore, it is desirable, and it is an object of this invention, to provide a compact finisher accessory for printers and other hard copy producing apparatus which can handle the different paper sizes and stapling locations usually associated with these Printers while maintaining high productivity. The finisher is particularly useful when the printer output is face down in page-order sequence, first page first.